Night before the Fourth: it’ll be another blast Food pantry donations greatly appreciated

Tuesday

Jul 2, 2013 at 3:15 AM

By John Nolanjnolan@fosters.com

ROCHESTER — Thanks once again to the community-minded congregation of The Journey Church and the generosity of the Rochester Fairground’s board of directors, many thousands of area residents will enjoy another Night before the Fourth celebration, which climaxes with a spectacular display of fireworks after the sun goes down.

According to Pastor Rob Willis, and his assistant, Lisa Ball, the gates of the fairground will open at 4 p.m. on July 3, which falls on a Wednesday, this year. People attending the free event are asked, if possible, to bring nonperishable food items with them, which will be collected and — when the event is over — distributed to Gerry’s Food Pantry and Joseph’s Storehouse, both of which serve the needy of the city.

At 5 p.m. the activities for kids and teens will get underway, and will include face painting, hair coloring (thanks to Great Clips), and a dunk tank. Fairground General Manager Mark Perry reminds all that there will be vendors purveying fried dough, steak and Italian sausage, hot dogs, French (or Liberty) fries, pizza, ice cream, lemonade, cotton candy and more.

From 7 to 7:30 p.m. there will be a series of events to honor veterans and first responders. The AOH bagpipers, with Pipe Major Pat Boyle, will march in, followed by the Legion Riders on their motorcycles and members of Rochester Veterans’ Council. The members of the SHS Jr. ROTC will also take part. Tavia Williams from The Journey Church, will sing the national anthem, Farmington high schooler Kaitlyn Baillargeon will play Taps and members of DAV Chapter 23 will fire a volley.

After this there will be a big deejay party, said Ball, with family friendly party favorites played by Luke Lanigan and Jeff Irwan. The music will continue up until the fireworks, which are due to commence “around 9:30-ish” according to Ball. The firework display will be put on by Central Maine Pyrotechnics.

Ball and Pastor Willis express their appreciation to Don Gagnon of Rochester Truck for the donation of trucks to collect and deliver the food to the pantries, to Bob Cicchetto of Rochester Sports for the loan of utility vehicles, to the fairground’s board of directors, Waste Management, local organizations such as the Grange, Oddfellows, Elks, Knights, the American Legion family, and VFW Post 1772, to the local police and fire departments, ambulance crews from Farmington and Frisbie, and to local media outlets.

“We also thank the many individuals who have donated, and the 300 volunteers from The Journey Church. It is very much a collective effort,” said Ball.

“I have never seen such a fine response from an organization,” said Perry.

The cost of the event is estimated by Pastor Willis and Ball, to be around $40,000, and the amount that is not met through donations is picked up by The Journey Church as their way of giving back to the community.

For more information, call 509-0591 or contact LisaB@thejourneyNH.com.